Hunton Employment & Labor Perspectives

On February 6, 2026, the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency (“LWDA”) provided a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (“Notice”) to adopt new Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) regulations intended to supplement the legislative reforms to PAGA in 2024. The proposed rulemaking, in its current form, is great news for employers that have been inundated with frivolous PAGA filings. 

In a case of first impression, Bradsbery v. Vicar Operating, Inc., the California Court of Appeal held that a prospective, written waiver of meal periods for work shifts between five and six hours is enforceable.

California has enacted many new laws that will impact employers in 2025. Please join Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP California Labor and Employment lawyers as they discuss this new legislation and other important legal developments affecting employers.

On August 15, 2024, the California Supreme Court held in a unanimous decision that public employers are not “employers” within the meaning of the meal-and-rest-break provisions of the California Labor Code, and the California Private Attorneys General Act (“PAGA”) exempts public employers from penalties for violations of Labor Code provisions carrying their own penalties.  The Court’s ruling substantial limits public employees’ ability to sue for wage-and-hour violations.